As part of our new series of virtual tours, we’re visiting some Chicago arts institutions braving the current storm on the cultural landscape.
For 29 years one small but significant place has been a showcase for visionary artwork. (And that is literal – some of the artists claim to have had visions.)
Thanks to our sponsors:
The art center called Intuit had to close a new show last month, and we got a look at what you’ll see when it one day reopens.
TRANSCRIPT
Marc Vitali: Bill Traylor was a self-taught American artist, born into slavery, whose artwork has been compared to Picasso.
James Edward Deeds (American, 1908-1987). Cotton Gin (side 116 of two-sided drawing Junetta/Cotton Gin 115/116), c. 1936-66. Graphite and crayon on ledger paper, 9 ¼ x 8 3/8 in. (23.5 x 21.3 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen
Howard Finster (American, 1916-2001). Visionary Landscape #4,494, 1985. Paint on wood, 48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen
Bill Traylor (American, c. 1853-1949). Man and Bird on Woven Form, c. 1939. Colored pencil on cardboard, 14 x 9 in. (35.6 x 22.9 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen
Bill Traylor (American, ca. 1853-1949). Chicken Stealing, c. 1939-42. Poster paint on cardboard, 13 ¼ x 7 in. (33.7 x 17.8 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen
George Widener (American, b.1962). CATCH 22, 2013. Mixed media on joined paper, 83 ½ x 59 in. (212.1 x 149.9 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen
Adolf Wölfli (Swiss, 1864-1930). Untitled (Christ Figure with Serpent), c. 1915-16. Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 11 x 8 ½ in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen
Howard Finster was a Baptist minister who painted what he titled “visionary landscapes” – as well as album covers for REM and Talking Heads.
Lee Godie was a homeless Chicagoan who made art on the steps of the Art Institute.
Intuitive artwork like theirs has been labeled “raw” or “primitive” – but like most labels, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all definition.
Intuit, on Milwaukee Avenue in River West, has an inclusive approach to what is most commonly called “outsider art.”
Martín Ramírez (Mexican, active in America, 1895–1963). Untitled (Trains and Tunnels) A, B, (detail), c. 1960–63. Graphite, gouache, crayon and colored pencil on pieced paper, 17 x 78 in. (43.2 x 198.1 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen. Copyright Estate of Martín Ramírez
Annaleigh Wetzel, Intuit — The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art: How we define “outsider art” here at Intuit is in essence artists who operate outside of the mainstream art world, Rather than their work being informed by the art establishment, they have a personal vision that they are compelled to create from. They often don’t have access to traditional art-making materials or fancy art supplies, but rather they use what they have at hand.
Vitali: That could mean scrap metal or window-shade canvases. One artist made meticulous drawings on stationary from his home at a state hospital.
Chicago is known as one of the first places in the United States to accept and embrace outsider artists.
That interest was sparked by a 1951 visit to the Arts Club of Chicago by French artist Jean Dubuffet. A receptive audience heard Dubuffet champion what he called “art brut,” meaning “raw art.”
All of the works in this exhibition come from the authoritative collection of Victor Keen.
Jim Bloom (American, b. 1968). The Rushed Hushed Compassion of Dr. Denang, n.d. Mixed media on canvas, 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen
Intuit has several shows each year, which can include some of the 1,200 works in their permanent collection.
One installation always on view is a window into the world of Henry Darger. Darger was a reclusive Chicago janitor who wrote a 15,000-page illustrated story about an army of girls escaping slavery.
His one-bedroom apartment and studio is recreated here with original furniture and possessions.
Intuit’s doors may be currently closed to the public, but daily visits by staff ensure the care and maintenance of this uncommon collection.
They’re looking toward the future.
Lee Godie (American, 1908-1994). Three Hands on a Piano, n.d. Watercolor and ink on paper, 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm). Ellyn in Profile, n.d. Watercolor and ink on paper, 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm). Collection of Victor F. Keen
Wetzel: I think Intuit, because of our small size — we’re lean but mean — we are in a way uniquely positioned to hopefully come out stronger on the other side of all this.
We’re really excited to welcome guests back into our space when that is safe for everybody, and in the meantime we’ll continue to create more and more content so that folks can engage with us online.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
